[Spain] Spanish court bars transgender asylum seeker
Spain's National Court (Audencia Nacional) has denied the asylum claim of a transgender Colombian national. The individual, whose identifying details were not reported in the original story by Spain's El Diaro De Cádiz, had been living in Spain since 2000 but entered deportation proceedings in March 2011. Despite urging from no less an advocate than the UN High Commissioner on Refugees to grant asylum in this case, the Court denied the application because the person only made the asylum claim based on sexual identity after deportation proceedings had begun.

[India] Transgender Rose makes film on cricket betting
Rose Venkatesan becomes the first ‘transgender’ in the country to be making a film. Rose would be directing a film, tentatively titled as Cricket Scandal, which would go deep into the art of ‘betting’ on international cricket matches. Born as Ramesh Venkatesan, the highly education Rose found later that she had been having feminine attributes and transformed into a beautiful woman.

[USA] Transgender Studies Quarterly: Announcement and CFP
General Editors Paisley Currah and Susan Stryker are pleased to announce that TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly will be published by Duke University Press, currently planned for launch in the first quarter of 2014. TSQ aims to be the journal of record for the interdisciplinary field of transgender studies, and to promote the widest possible range of perspectives on transgender phenomena broadly defined. Every issue of TSQ will be a specially themed issue that also contains regularly recurring features such as reviews, interviews, and opinion pieces.

[India] Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community seeks to increase support base
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community that gathered in Madurai for the city's first Turing Rainbow festival expressed the need to increase their support base by roping in civil societies and other organisations. The event was organised by Srishti, a literary and resource circle for alternative genders and sexualities here on Saturday.

[India]Chennai to host India’s first transgender swayamvaram
Many years ago, royal families held swayamvarams, where princesses could choose the man of their dreams from a group of eligible suitors. On September 28, the city will witness a swayamvaram of a different kind. Thirunangai swayamvaram is being organised by activist Kalki Subramaniam to help transgenders (TG) find their life partners.

[USA] The new Matrix revolution: Director says he's now a pink-haired woman called Lana
The Hollywood director responsible for the hit Matrix movies has ‘outed’ himself as a pink-haired transsexual called Lana.
Larry Wachowski, 47, one of the most influential directors in Hollywood after Steven Spielberg, has been undergoing hormone therapy as part of his sex-change treatment for nearly a decade. In a trailer for his latest film, the £80 million production Cloud Atlas, Wachowski says in a soft and breathy voice: ‘Hi, I’m Lana.’ It is the first time ‘Larry’ has appeared publicly as ‘Lana’.

[UK] ‘Please let me be a girl’ - Transgender teen and mum hit out in school dress row
A transgender pupil from a Boston school was allegedly denied the chance to sit an exam because of the way she was dressed – until she presented the head with a copy of the Equality Act.
Ashlyn Parram, who suffers from gender dysphoria, claims she was sent home by exam invigilators at Giles Academy in Old Leake when she arrived for the test wearing a girls’ uniform.

[Ireland] 'They talk about gay or lesbian but never transgender'
In Dublin Unitarian Church, on St Stephen’s Green, last summer a married couple renewed their vows before friends, colleagues and their 17-year-old daughter. The occasion was a twofold celebration. First, it was a silver wedding anniversary: Philippa, a transgender woman, had married her wife, Helen, 25 years earlier, when Philippa was a biological male. And now, 12 years after coming out, she was about to fly to London for full gender-reassignment surgery, at Charing Cross Hospital.

[Turkey] Protect LGBT People from Violence and Discrimination
In Turkey, where the nation is debating a new constitution, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups are working around the clock to persuade their government to include protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

[New Zealand] Marriage not the end of the line, group stresses
Wellington-based activist group The Queer Avengers is calling for a struggle "beyond marriage", saying while it supports marriage equality, it's not the end of the line for GLBT rights.

[Canada] Transgender rights sought
They’re a small, misunderstood segment of the population.
But they face some of the biggest hurdles toward equality.
Getting a job.
Accessing the right health care.
Even walking safely down the street can be struggles for transgender people, a provincial activist group says.

[Canada] New Health Guide Released for Transgendered People in Quebec
﻿﻿﻿On August 3rd, the group ASTTEQ, a health network for transgendered people, is launching a guidebook of health resources for queer and trans people in Quebec. "Self-Referred" will be launched at Citibar in Centre-sud with performances and presentations, and will also be launching a new website on the same day. CUTV caught up with some of the staff at ASTTEQ to talk about the guide, and some of the barriers transgendered people face in accessing healthcare.

[USA] Hedwig sequel planned
I’m not sure if this has been announced anywhere or not. I had coffee-and-conversation this morning here in Greenwich Village with my old friend John Cameron Mitchell, the creator of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He is busy putting the finishing touches on his first draft of a Hedwig sequel and will be doing a reading and recreating the role of Hedwig on September 16th at a special performance at this year’s Afterglow Festival in Provincetown.

[DC, USA] Latina Transgender Organization Gets Death Threats
Casa Ruby, the only Latina transgender organization in Washington, D.C., whose mission is to serve as a haven for trans folks seeking to escape violence, has been on the receiving end of death threats, according to WAMU, American University Radio.

[FL, USA] Challenger makes issue of Edwards' ties to business in Orange commission race
Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards is a successful private attorney and businessman who says the two-year term he is finishing up went so well that he deserves another four years in public office.
But if his challenger, Democrat Gina Duncan, pulls an upset over the Republican Edwards, she could also make history as the first openly transgender candidate to win office.

[UK]Model of transgender in Liverpool
A project is being launched in Liverpool today to research, explore and document the experiences of transgendered people in Britain over the past 70 years. It focusses on the incredible life of model, actress and transsexual April Ashley from the city.

[Ireland]TGEU Council Scholarships for Irish Residents
TENI is pleased to announce we will be offering a limited number of full and partial scholarships to trans people or allies from across Ireland to participate in the 4th European Transgender Council.

[Australia]Medicare Coverage and Gender Reassignment Surgery
The concern that gender reassignment surgery is not fully covered by Medicare has been in the spotlight over the last month, following a Queensland trans* woman’s threat to perform her own surgery in desperation and protest at the current cost.

[PA, USA]‘Black Madam’ charged with murder
The transgender woman accused of giving illegal silicone injections was this week charged with murder in connection with the death of a British tourist last year.

[PA, USA]Voter ID pressure intensifies
With the fall general election inching closer, activists are ramping up efforts to oppose Pennsylvania’s new voter-identification law.
Passed in the spring, the law requires all voters to possess an approved form of photo identification, a Republican-led initiative that critics argue was created to cut the number of eligible Democratic voters.

[India] Transgenders interact with media
“We would like to be referred to as Nupi Manbi or as transgenders”, local transgenders voiced in unison during a one day media interaction held at Hotel Nirmala today.

[Canada] Chaz Bono to Play Himself on Degrassi
The Canadian youth drama that is known for breaking boundaries and debunking stereotypes is getting ready to welcome one very famous guest star, Chaz Bono. The transgender activist, son of Cher and former Dancing with the Stars contestant, showed up at the Toronto set to film an episode to air in the fall. Chaz Bono will play himself on the show and most likely be there to mentor the show’s only transgender character, Adam, who was introduced in the show’s tenth season.

[Canada] [Commentary] Transgender Issues: How Would You Grade the Media?
This post is for transgender people and for women and men “with histories” (i.e. who have transitioned) . . .
As GLAAD meets with the New York Times to discuss their coverage of trans-related subjects, perhaps it would be a good time for my readers to talk here about how the mainstream media in general covers these subjects.

[USA] Are Men In the Military More Likely To Be Transgender?
A soon-to-be published study claims men who served in the military were twice as likely to consider themselves transgender as men who were not veterans. Air Force veteran and psychologist George Brown told Courthouse News Service his study looked at more than 5 million veterans as subjects.

[FL, USA] WATCH: Transgender Candidate Out to Make History in Florida
Gina Duncan, a candidate for the Orange County, Fla., Commission, could be the first transgender person elected in the Southeast.
A transgender candidate for the Orange County Commission in central Florida is drawing favorable attention from local media for her historic bid.
Gina Duncan, who was born Gregory Pingston and transitioned in 2007 at age 50, is a small-business owner and former bank executive focusing on economic issues in her race. Duncan, a Democrat, was recently profiled by Orlando Fox affiliate WOFL.

[FL, USA] New South Florida Online Healthcare Directory for Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual Women
For those who watch Mad Men, the AMC drama about an advertising agency in 1960s New York, you may recall the first episode in which a young secretary, Peggy Olson, visits the gynecologist’s office. Peggy is a single white heterosexual woman trying to get contraceptive pills. During her exam, she endures the doctor’s cigarette smoke along with a lecture about how “easy women don’t find husbands.”

[UT, USA] Sexy F2M Calendar sales to fund surgeries
After receiving dozens of submissions from transgender men, the Sexy F2M Calendar not only features some of the sexiest trans men around, it also helps raise money for a good cause. The creator of the calendar, Aaron Bain, is using the calendar to raise funds for his own chest surgery.

[WA, USA] Raising Gender-Variant Kids
In the past, parents of transgender or gender non–conforming children encouraged their kids to conform to society's expectations. That approach didn't work. According to a survey by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the attempted–suicide rate for transgender adults is a shockingly high at 41 percent. So what should parents be doing? How can they raise a healthy transgender child? How can they address their own judgments and worries? What is the responsibility of communities and schools? We'll get first–hand accounts and answers your questions at 1.800.289.KUOW (5869)

quinta-feira, julho 26, 2012

[Europe] Gay rights part of EU entry
The European Commission, the executive body that governs the European Union (EU), has clarified that respect for gay rights is a legal criterion for EU accession, EUObserver reports.

[Ukraine] Anti-Gay Bill Sparks Outcry in Ukraine
If a group of Ukrainian lawmakers succeeds in its mission, TV shows and movies sympathetically portraying homosexuals such as "Brokeback Mountain" will be banned. So will gay pride parades.

[India] Radio Gives Voice to India’s Transgender Community
Stigmatized by society and disowned by relatives, the majority of India’s transgender community is forced to live as second-class citizens with restricted access to education, jobs and health care. Determined to combat this discrimination and alienation, the community is now creating its own media to amplify its voice.

[USA] Transgenderism More Likely for G.I. Joes, Study Says
Biologically male U.S. veterans were twice as likely as their civilian counterparts to identify as female, a former military psychologist told Courthouse News, discussing a soon-to-be-published study of more than 5 million service members.

[USA] Transgendered Roman Catholic Woman Decries Episcopal Actions at General Convention
Three years ago, I interviewed a transgendered woman (formerly a man), an Anglo-Catholic who has since converted to Roman Catholicism. See interview here.
She has been following the decisions of the recent General Convention allowing the first Christian denomination in history to officially affirm transgender sexuality and allow people who have had sex-changes, or "gender reassignment surgery," to apply to be clergy.

[DC, USA] Transgender Challenges and HIV
Speaking at a workshop this morning, five AIDS 2012 panelists examined problems transgender people face in various countries, particularly in the U.S. Focusing on the prevalence of HIV in the transgender community and the related risks, JoAnne Keatley, director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, covered several of the factors contributing to transgender people's higher risk of acquiring HIV. For example, she said, transgender people face relatively greater degrees of dicscrimination in employment, housing and health care, as well as marginalization, or, in some countries, criminalization of people who do not conform to gender norms.XIX International AIDS Conference: The Beginning of the End?

quarta-feira, julho 25, 2012

[International] The IDAHO 2012 Report is out!
With mobilization stretching across all continents and over 100 countries, the 2012 edition of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia broke new records.

[UK] School forced to allow transgender pupil, 16, to sit exam in a skirt
A school has been forced to allow a transgender pupil to sit a GCSE exam dressed as a girl, because of equality laws, it was reported.
The school backed down after telling Ashlyn Parram, 16 - who was born a boy but is undergoing gender reassignment treatment - that the teenage could not sit the paper because he was not wearing boys' uniform.
Ashlyn, who was wearing a skirt, claimed to have showed headmaster Chris Walls a copy of the Equality Act 2010, which gave the right to be treated the same as other pupils.Trans teen banned from exam reads teacher her rights
(Photo: 16-year-old transgender Ashlyn Parram (right) and her mum, Miranda, from Boston in Lincolnshire)

[Serbia] Serbia Becomes a Hub for Sex-Change Surgery
Twenty years ago, newspapers here jeered that transsexuality was an act against God. Today, people are coming from around the world to Serbia for sex change operations, which are now subsidized for Serbs by national health insurance.

[Australia] Genderqueer the new frontier
In our postmodern world of understanding gender, it would seem ‘labels’ should eventually become irrelevant. While historically queers have played with gender for hundreds of years, is it really fathomable that one day we could do away with the terms male and female?

[New Zealand] Board explains use of 'transvestite' in report
The Chair of an Auckland local board says there was no intention to be discriminatory in a report about prostitution, which refers to transgender street workers as ‘transvestites’.

[Canada] Jenna Talackova Q & A
Sipping on a summer drink, Jenna Talackova quietly makes her way across W 2nd Ave, past a bus stop, into Characters Talent Agency near Granville Island. A gaggle of guys, immersed in conversation, stop and stare — which could mean they recognize the former Miss Universe Canada contestant, or they think she’s gorgeous, or both.

[USA] Lutherans for Full LGBT Participation
On July 8, TransLutherans was announced as a new affinity group in ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation at our assembly in Washington, D.C. Thanks to the board for approving the formation of this group at its 2012 spring meeting in Minneapolis. TransLutherans has been a long time in the making. A word or two about the history of this process is in order.

[FL, USA] Rosita Hidalgo: Transgender Murder on South Beach
Hector Sarna isn't surprised that his friend Rosita Hidalgo was killed. As a transgender woman who was a sex worker, she was putting herself at risk. He warned her that one of the men she brought home would hurt her, or worse. He remembers a day almost a year ago when a man client beat Rosita after finding out she was once a man. Hector told her to be more careful.

[ID, USA] Boise police: 27-year-old suspect charged with aggravated battery in stabbing case
Elizabeth D. McClerkin is being held in the Ada County Jail on a felony charge of aggravated battery after Boise police say she stabbed a man several times with a knife in the torso early Saturday morning.
Police officials said Monday the man was taken by paramedics to a local hospital early Saturday morning for treatment of non life-threatening injuries.
(Photo: Elizabeth D. McClerkin. Police officials say McClerkin’s mugshot from the jail is accurate.)

[KS, USA] KU to be recognized for transgender education support
Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project announced Monday it will be awarding its K-STEP Key award to The University of Kansas at an awards banquet on Aug. 24, according to a news release. The award is in appreciation of KU’s support of transgender education.

[Thailand] Sex, drugs, stigma put Thai transsexuals at HIV risk
From a cafe near the go-go bars of a Bangkok red light district where she campaigns for safe sex, Gigi gives an unvarnished view of how she joined Thailand's growing ranks of transgender people with HIV.

[OR, USA] Pastor: 'I was created transgender'
The Rev. David Weekley has wispy gray-brown hair, beard and mustache and wears glasses. He has a gentle smile and sincere eyes.
But on Sunday, he shared with Salem’s Morningside United Methodist Church this fact: He was born a girl.

[India]Redesigning lives
On a hot afternoon, at the headquarters of The Naz Foundation at A-86, East of Kailash, sits 23-year-old Sana with three other members of her community. When we enter, the four are all busy fastening beads of different colours on to a string. “Meet Prince, Bobby, Kiran and Sana,” a volunteer from the foundation introduces us. Prince, Bobby, Kiran and Sana are Kinnars, members of the transgender community, who face challenges every day as they struggle to live in our society.

[USA] Software engineer claims generic version of Propecia turned him into a woman
This baldness cure was a bust.
For nine months, William McKee took the generic version of Propecia, the pills that promise to halt hair loss.
But the drug had radical side effects: Instead of becoming a better-looking man, he started becoming a woman, he claims.
“My rock-hard chest from the gym began to soften . . . reaching the point where I had noticeable ‘breasts’ even under my clothing,” he says.

sábado, julho 21, 2012

[International] Desmond Tutu: Anti-gay laws ‘as wrong as apartheid’
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality to aid the fight against HIV, comparing anti-gay laws to racial segregation in his home country of South Africa.

[Liberia] Liberian Senate votes to ban gay marriage in constitution
The Liberian Senate on Friday voted unanimously to approve a constitutional amendment prohibiting marriage between gay couples.
While homosexuality is considered taboo in Liberia, and 'voluntary sodomy' considered a criminal offence, the question of gay marriage had not been expressly addressed in law.
The amendment was made to section 2.3 of the constitution, which bans marriage between people who are already wedded to others and between close family members.

[Nigeria] Nigerian Gay Rights Activists Call for Dignity, Acceptance
Nigeria is a dangerous place to be gay. Activists say homosexuals are hunted, threatened and ostracized. Last year, a bill passed through both the Nigerian house and the senate that would punish homosexuality, or even supporting gay rights, with up to 14 years in prison. The bill has yet to be signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan. Despite the dangers in Nigeria, a handful of activists operate publicly in the hope that eventually more people will come out and demand equal rights.

[India] Hers is a fight for rights of third gender
"Death of parents hurt all children equally, irrespective of their gender. But there could be no match to the pain of a child who learns about father's death after 10 years when you know that you can't get the last glimpse nor could you touch him.

[USA]Why The Butterfly To Represent Trans People?
As you've seen on these electronic pages, you've seen the trans flag, the trans symbol and the trans symbol with a butterfly flying from or near it So what's the meaning of the butterfly and its connection to the trans community?

[FL, USA] Transgender candidate in Orange County
On a day many people would just stay inside, Gina Duncan dodges storms and puddles to accomplish her mission -- winning election to the Orange County Commission.